


Behind closed doors

by Sardon



Series: A concoction of Fictions in other fandom s [13]
Category: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Parenting mistakes, Parents POV, Valuable lessons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-09 06:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7790293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sardon/pseuds/Sardon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story about what goes on inside the parent's heads as they each learn a valuable lesson on how their parenting flaws are affecting their children. (Set in the 2005 movie)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Greedy nincompoop

The very thought of her son being processed into a bar of fudge made Mrs Gloops stomach turn.

Bending down as if she was ducking for cover, her words came out as a jumbled stammer as she practically screamed at the Oompa Loompas to work faster.

Wincing at the harsh sound of the Oompa Loompas stick poking around the chocolate mixing barrel, Mrs Gloop sighed as they continued to unsuccessfully attempt to retrieve Augustus to safety.

_Augustus Gloop, Augustus Gloop, the great big greedy nincompoop. Augustus Gloop so big and vile, so greedy, foul and infantile._

Were the exact words which continued to haunt Mrs Gloops mind like a broken record.

Attempting to block out the insulting sentences spinning around her mind , Mrs Gloop made the decision to take a couple of steps closer to where the Oompa Loompas were still hard at work with their search.

Never had she imagined that one of the necessary products for survival, and dare she say it pride in life would cause her such a commotion.

"Is there any sign of him!" She cried, despite knowing full well what the answer was going to be.

The Oompa Loompas remained silent as Mrs Gloop leant her head backwards while covering her face with her hands with frustration.

_If he's not careful, one day he will turn into a chocolate bar!_ Was a phrase Mrs Gloop had laughed off when of the many chefs let loose a harmless joke.

Only this time the joke was on her, and no one was laughing.

Deciding to take a look around the actual room she was stood in, Mrs Gloops eyes widened at the huge amounts of chocolate the mixing machines held as it slowly transformed into the same fudge bars that she and her family would have previously enjoyed.

But now that enjoyment was replaced by facing the heart sinking reality that her own selfish and greedy ways,which she was guilty of passing onto to her son, now determined if his future was to quite possibly be cut short.

While letting out an exhausted sigh, Mrs Gloop looked around the whole room one more time then closed her eyes as she silently thought to herself, _only an hour ago would I have been more than delighted to have snapped up all I could from this factory, but now all I need to snap up is the chance to change everything for the better._

Having got herself caught up in her own thoughts, Mrs Gloop made herself jump as her hand hit something that made a revolting squelching noise inside of her purse which was tossed around her shoulder.

Undoing the zip from the top of her purse her eyes went considerably wider as the chocolate she had collected from the chocolate room earlier that day had melted leaving a gooey chocolate puddle on the inside of her leather purse.

Mrs Gloop made a noise of disgust as she rapidly closed her purse, not wanting a single reminder of how badly her own greed had affected her son.

All of a sudden Mrs Gloop mind was torn away from the mess inside her purse as she was greeted to the sight of Augustus covered head to toe in pure chocolate , leaving only his eyes which stood out from the chocolate that dribbled down from his entire body and onto the floor.

"Look at all this chocolate mother!" Augustus exclaimed as he started to wipe at the chocolate on his face, then more or less shoving his whole hand into his mouth with a delightful sigh at how good the chocolate tasted.

However, even the slight mention of chocolate created a queasy feeling inside Mrs Gloops stomach, as her face went considerably pale just by the sight of it beginning to stick to her son's clothes and face.

Mrs Gloop let out a dramatic cry as she grabbed her son by the wrist and sharply announced that they were leaving.

The Oompa Loompas didn't even receive a simple thank you as they watched the two walk out of the room. Tutting at their departure the Oompa Loompas rolled their eyes as if to silently say, the greedy nincompoop survives to tell the tale.

* * *

 

Half way through walking down the steps to desperately get away from the same factory which had been their former friend, Mrs Gloop shot a glance towards Augustus who was eating at his fingers.

"Augustus please, don't lick your fingers!" Mrs Gloop practically pleaded while giving her son a stern look.

"But I taste so good" was his short response, just before Mrs Gloop decided to take action and grab his wrist to make him walk faster, without further unnecessary distractions.

Mrs Gloop sighed as her last thought was, _it's now or never._


	2. Confidence is key

_Well, you do seem confident and confidence is key._ Were the promising words from a certain man in a top hat who at the time could have just been saying that to please them.

But Mrs Beauregarde had never imagined that "key" being the one towards humiliation.

To hide her embarrassment from the current situation, Mrs Beauregarde kept her gaze at her feet throughout the entire boat journey to the juicing room. The journey itself seemed to tediously take twice the amount of time than the first one they had taken as a group.

Then the words juicing room in brightly coloured letters appeared on a huge screen which flashed in front of Mrs Beauregarde's eyes, who winced as the bright lights blinded her for a few seconds.

Having to watch her blueberry of a daughter being rolled off the boat seconds after it had stopped, Mrs Beauregarde was startled to see an Oompa Loompa stood right in front of her.

"You cannot come in here while this is in progress" was all the Oompa Loompa told her before getting interrupted.

"But she's my daughter" Mrs Beauregarde argued in response towards the Oompa Loompa, who gave off a less than sympathetic look.

"You cannot come in here, you must wait outside" the Oompa Loompa repeated before shutting the door that leads to the juicing room.

Mrs Beauregarde sighed as she stood near the door that had been slammed in her face.

Pressing her ear against the door to find out if she could hear anything, she was soon disappointed when realising that the door was indeed sound proof.

Knowing that there was nothing more she could do, Mrs Beauregarde looked around where she was currently stood even though there wasn't much else to look at.

Running a hand through her short blonde hair Mrs Beauregarde began to anxiously tap her fingers against her hip while pacing up and down as she was soon drawn into her own thoughts.

 _Listen close, and listen hard, the tale of Violet Beauregarde. The gentle girl she sees no wrong, in chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing ,chewing, chewing all day long._ Were the words that repeated themselves inside Mrs Beauregarde's mind, like an extremely annoying earworm.

"Stop!" Mrs Beauregard whispered to herself, hoping she could somehow block out the words the Oompa Loompas had used to insult her daughter.

Suddenly, Mrs Beauregarde was shaken from her thoughts as an Oompa Loompa made an unexpected appearance by standing in front of her feet.

"Did you have to scare me like that!" Mrs Beauregarde snapped, giving the Oompa Loompa an irritated glare.

Ignoring her snappy response, the Oompa Loompa had its own question in mind.

"Do you take great pride in your daughter's **achievements?"** The Oompa Loompa asked, emphasising on the word achievements.

"Well... Yes" Mrs Beauregarde hesitated as to why the Oompa Loompa would want to know something so obvious, but little did she know there was more to come her way.

"And may I be correct in saying that her competitivity is one of them?"

Mrs Beauregarde took a minute to absorb what the Oompa Loompa had asked her before answering with, "yes, my daughters a confidently driven young woman."

The Oompa Loompa slowly blinked, clearly unimpressed with her answer which soon showed with the next statement of, "Mrs Beauregarde there is a difference between being confident and being arrogant."

Mrs Beauregarde gave off a look of confusion, "what do you mean by that?" She scoffed as if it was an absurd accusation.

"Well, myself and Mr Wonka did notice that you are your daughter are very alike and not just in looks."

Mrs Beauregard frowned but didn't say anything, which meant the Oompa Loompa could continue.

"Well, personality wise it seems that large amounts of yours have rubbed off onto hers, clearly meaning that you are as bad as each other." The Oompa Loompa sighed when looking at Mrs Beauregarde's dull facial expression.

Desperately trying to defend herself from the Oompa Loompas accusations she replied with, "I wasn't the one who **took** the gum, therefore it wasn't my fault," Mrs Beauregarde explained with confidence.

" But **you** encouraged her to chew it , despite having been given warnings by Mr Wonka and Charlie's Grandpa." The Oompa Loompa retorted, earning a scowl from Mrs Beauregarde.

"Yes, but I didn't think it would turn my daughter blue!" Mrs Beauregarde exclaimed so loudly that her voice echoed through the atmosphere.

"That's right **you didn't think** , you just went and let Violet get on with it," The Oompa Loompa replied, adopting the tone of a disappointed teacher.

Mrs Beauregard rolled her eyes in annoyance, "so what? You're blaming me for the fact that Mr Wonka's three-course meal chewing gum has some weird issues with it!"

The Oompa Loompa took one step closer towards her before saying, "you are just as responsible for what happened as Violet is."

Before Mrs Beauregarde could protest the Oompa Loompa then added, "any other parent would be wanting their child to keep out of harm's way, not walk them right into the hands of unforeseen danger."

"But then again all that really matters to you is how she will compete in order to make yourself look better."

Mrs Beauregarde was about to prove the Oompa Loompa wrong when the sound of a door opening caught her attention. Mrs Beauregard let out a dramatic gasp of pure horror when witnessing Violet coming out from the open door, happily cartwheeling towards her mother.

"Hey, mother!" Violet cried with excitement as she added in a rush of words, "this is so cool, I can now do double the amount of cartwheels in a second, and I can do the splits twice as far than I could before!"

"Er yes…" Mrs Beauregarde trailed off in embarrassment just before turning towards the Oompa Loompas with a snappy command of, "why is she still blue, fix it!"

The Oompa Loompas shook their heads as one of them informed her that there was nothing they could do to reverse the effect of the blue that covered every inch of Violet Beauregarde.

While Violet was happy with the outcome of her defect, Mrs Beauregarde, on the other hand, was anything but happy.

_Only yesterday had I been explaining to the whole world how great Violet was, boasting about how many trophies and medals my champion had won, but now all I have to show as a record is Violet becoming the world's first human blueberry. The big blue loser of a daughter who is now true to her name._

Mrs Beauregarde was then disrupted from her thoughts as Violet insisted that she showed her more of the many new tricks she had been able to master.

However, Mrs Beauregarde showed no interest which was proven when demanding that she and Violet were shown the way out of the factory.

The Oompa Loompas looked at each other as they whispered out of the Beauregarde's hearing range, the tale of Violet Beauregarde continues towards a new chapter.

Making sure that she walked at least a few steps ahead of Violet as if she was purposely trying to avoid her, Mrs Beauregarde was yet again dragged away from her thoughts as Violet cheerfully exclaimed,

"Look, mother, I'm much more flexible now!" While making her head poke out from the front of her back which attracted a look of Disgust from her mother.

"Yes but you're blue," Mrs Beauregarde retorted before continuing to walk ahead of her daughter, mortified that she had a part to play in her daughter's misfortune.

Mrs Beauregarde sighed as her last thought was, _now the county fair idea doesn't seem too bad after all._


	3. Newfound realisation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr salts thoughts and feelings of what happened to Veruca.

It had all started with a demand and ended with a demand. The trouble is when demands become so common, it's often difficult to realise when they should come to an end.

However, all it took was _'a bad nut'_ to reveal the major error of my ways.

Let me explain.

My family are in the nut business you see, which has been going rather well for the past eleven years if I do say so for myself.

Having said that, our business hadn't quite become the success it is to this very day until our pride and Joy, Veruca Elizabeth Salt was born.

Because of this huge rise of success our business had made since that glorious day, I admittedly treated my daughter and wife to a few occasional treats. All from my own pocket of course.

Each time I willingly took my daughter and wife out for anything from an exciting holiday abroad to a fantastic meal at a five-star restaurant, my wife's silent gratitude along with the cherished giggles and loving smiles from my dear little Veruca were all I needed to keep on going.

So I did, and more besides.

But as she grew older those appreciative smiles and loving giggles soon became grins of greed and massive screams of anger when she couldn't have what she wanted.

To say the least, it broke my heart.

So from those days onwards, I practically made it my mission to be able to give her what she wanted, no matter the cost.

And for a while, she was satisfied with what I could give her.

However, as she became more aware of just how much of a wealthy background she came from , her list of demands soon matched up to what I was earning per day.

None of this became any easier when the golden ticket event took place. The whole world had been searching for them, but some had if you'd like to call an unfair advantage over others.

And me being one of them I made it my solemn promise to Veruca, who was just as overwhelmed with the search for a golden ticket as any other child.

Not many parents would be prepared to make the sacrifices I was, especially since not many were able to.

I vividly remember having to get hundreds of thousands of Wonka bars shipped to my business , one crate per hour to be precise. I even had to bring my whole business to a halt as the search became more intense. Just as my Daughters tolerance for my consistent failure to provide her with the one thing she wanted grew thinner each day.

 _"Where's my golden ticket, I want my golden ticket!"_ Were Veruca's exact words , along with a miserable facial expression which only resulted in me pushing myself to the very maximum in any way I could.

After having no luck for the past few days, I had begun to lose hope in my mission which drove me to having to prepare myself for the worst as a never ending punishment.

Just having to picture my darling Veruca's disappointment in me alone made me dread that seemingly likely outcome.

But, little did I know that a spark of good fortune was just around the corner.

During that moment I had just so happened to have been checking on the ladies, seeing them unwrap Wonka bar after Wonka bar as they too had grown tired of the whole task.

However from the corner of my eye one lady in particular caught my attention. Deciding to investigate the sudden unusual occurrence, I took it as an opportunity to get a further glimpse of what could have been the ticket to success.

Then as if on some sort of cue, there it was right before my eyes. The golden ticket that we had been waiting for had finally arrived, to soon be rightfully placed in my daughter's possession.

Not having a moment to loose I grabbed the ticket from the ladies hand , before swiftly walking away as the joy of having finally succeeded in finding a golden ticket caught up with me.

To add to my success I was soon able to fulfil my pleasure in presenting her the golden ticket right in front of her very eyes.

The way her blue eyes seemed to brighten up the room as she smiled in delight was enough to make the whole process having to be inconveniently stopped worthwhile.

However this joy of having the golden ticket didn't last for as long as I hoped.

In fact, it didn't last very long at all as I was soon faced with yet again another one of her desires, this time for a pony.

And so it went on.

When the day of visiting the chocolate factory did arrive, circumstances were no different.

To begin our day I made sure that we were not to be late, instead, we got there early, at Veruca's request of course.

But being early did mean having to wait and although it doesn't please me to say this, Veruca isn't one for waiting. In fact, she demanded me to make time go faster, a bit silly I know. However, it wasn't long before Veruca could get what she wanted.

As the gates opened before our eyes Veruca was eager to be the first one inside.

She greeted Mr Wonka with a polite curtsey, something which was pleasant for me to watch since that side of her didn't show much at home.

However Mr Wonka didn't share my enthusiasm, instead, he came out with a rather unwanted mockery to do with the wart you get on your foot. Not something I had expected him to come out with.

Mr Wonka himself was a strange man, he seemed to be in a world of his own most of the time. During those moments when he did seem to be with us, he came across as eccentric with a rather unique and quirky way of portraying himself, mainly through his sense of humour which did cause me to feel uncomfortable at times.

Although his presence was one to be careful around, Veruca did seem to take a limited amount of interest in what he was saying, that to me spoke for itself.

On the other hand, this tour did have its downfalls, especially if your kid expects you to provide more than your average parent.

Let's just say  we came across many things that soon got added to Veruca's list of desires, the first being an Oompa Loompa. I never knew such a character existed.

They were quite bizarre creatures, both in appearance and personality. But it didn't stop Veruca from wanting one.

And although she had been demanding to have all various things throughout the tour, it was the trained squirrels that had particularly caught her attention, and nothing was going to stand in her way of getting one.

 _"Daddy, I want a squirrel. Get me one of those squirrels, I want one!",_ Were her precise words of commandment.

Glancing over at the squirrels they were hard at work shelling nut after nut, Veruca hadn't taken her eyes off of them since.

Now usually I would have by now succeeded in getting her one, but this time I could sense that something odd would occur, just as it did for the other two children.

I couldn't take that chance with my own daughter.

So I did indeed remind her of the many marvellous pets she already had. This consisted of one pony , two dogs ,four cats ,six bunny rabbits ,two parakeets , three canaries , a green parrot ,a turtle, and not to mention the silly old hamster as she liked to put it.

So I did my best to ensure her that she would get a squirrel at the first possible moment I could.

However she didn't want any old squirrel, she wanted a trained squirrel.

Somehow it just wasn't enough for her, so I decided to put her mind at rest by trying to convince Mr Wonka to let her have one, despite having a clear idea of what the answer would be.

Veruca even added a cute smile for good measure, the same smile that always got to me in one way or another, but Wonka wasn't moved by it.

I was then proved correct when he informed me that the squirrels weren't for sale.

Unfortunately, Veruca wasn't going to take no for an answer, instead of exclaiming an angry _"daddy!"_ at me to get her what she wanted.

Wonka's response to this consisted of a rather crude imitation of me.

Before I could respond to this unnecessary action, Veruca had already decided if I wasn't going to get the squirrel for her, she would do the honours herself.

In a matter of seconds, Veruca had made her way from under the gate leading to the squirrels, then proceeding to examine each and every one of them, until she found one that met her standards.

Mr Wonka and I did try to change her mind about the whole thing, alas nothing we did or said put her off her mission of getting herself a squirrel.

However, the squirrels did not share Veruca's enthusiasm of wanting one of their crew, which they made perfectly clear when Veruca reached out to grab the one I assumed was the leader of the group.

But what happened next came as a shock, not only to me but to Veruca herself.

It all happened in a matter of seconds as the entire group of squirrels made their leap of retaliation, throwing themselves at Veruca until she wasn't unable to stop their attack.

While Veruca was desperately trying to get away from the sudden dramatic event, I was unable to intervene due to the gate being locked. I did ask for Wonka's assistance in opening the gate, but his search for the correct key took its toll on the situation which I rather suspect he did on purpose.

Perhaps to silently tell me something.

It didn't take long for the squirrels to succeed in pinning Veruca to the floor, each and every squirrel had its own task of investigating my daughter from top to bottom. Not a single word came from Veruca during her rather alarming experience, I rather suspect it was because she wasn't used to anyone or anything rebelling against her wishes in such an extreme way.

All of a sudden I heard Veruca cry for help by telling me that I somehow had to get the squirrels to stop, unfortunately, I was still unable to help which meant the squirrels could carry on with their test to see if she was a bad nut.

It turned out that she was a bad nut after all according to Mr Wonka and the squirrels, who had no trouble in grabbing Veruca and gradually taking her over to what I was about to be informed was the rubbish chute , that leads to the incinerator which only got lit on a Tuesday.

But as fate would have it today was a Tuesday, that thought alone sent a rush of panic that any other parent would feel if they knew their child was about to come into harm's way.

To make matters worse there was still nothing I could do to stop the unnecessary incident.

Soon after giving up hope that Wonka would decide to help my daughter, Veruca was already on the brink of being tossed into the pit leading towards the rubbish chute. And with a blink of an eye, she was pushed down the slide which lead her to her fate.

For one whole moment, all I could do was gawp at the fact that she had really gone down there, adding to my state of shock Wonka didn't look remotely concerned about the situation.

Before I could shout at Mr Wonka for being so unbelievably careless throughout the whole time, he decided that now would have been a good time to mention that Veruca could just be stuck in the chute, all I had to do was reach in and pull her out.

It sounded so simple, yet it also had a rather daunting ring to it.

Shortly afterwards, as if on some kind of cue Wonka had then conveniently found the key that unlocked the gate, I must admit I was slightly hesitant to what could happen at that moment in time.

I didn't have long to wonder as the Oompa Loompas filled the entire room, preparing another song which I highly suspected was going to be about Veruca. And indeed it was, however, it wasn't just to insult her.

What really took me as a surprise was the Oompa Loompas had actually gestured for me to walk over to them, to give me a lecture as if they were a teacher and I was a naughty student. Nevertheless, it proved that maybe these creatures did have a point to prove after all.

_'Who went and spoiled her, who indeed? Who pandered to her every need? Who turned her into such a brat?'_

These were the words that caused me to rethink my whole parenting situation. Having realised my fatal flaw that I had been blind to for many years, opened my eyes to see what everyone else saw in my overly demanding daughter who just wanted more, no matter the circumstances.

Although I had fully understood what the Oompa Loompas were telling me, I was then brought over to look down towards that very slide Veruca had taken an abrupt journey down, only to find that I was to go down the same road.

Now, I'm not going to go into the details of the rubbish chute itself.

The only thing I do wish to say about this reality check is that it was a particularly unpleasant experience, both physically and mentally.

Eventually having found our way out we were greeted by the sight of hundreds, if not thousands of various news reporters and photographers stood behind the gates. A vast majority crowded in one area, all desperately keen to get a photo or a quote about our experience of the factory .

Now normally I wouldn't have had an issue with giving them a few lines or a couple of photos to publish in the paper or have shown on the television. However, this particular moment in time was one I could do without having to go through the painful process of humiliation , a process of which I have never encountered before.

Until now.

Having no choice but to as they say face the music, we made our exit from the chocolate factory covered in approximately three weeks worth of rubbish since the incinerator was broken.

As we took the walk of shame I glanced down at Veruca, mentally grimacing at the spoilt, selfish brat that I and I alone had created.

Despite her demands having led us to our current situation, it didn't take long for her to find something else to fulfil her mind.

 _"Daddy, I want a flying glass elevator"_ was her first demand since leaving the rubbish chute.

Looking up to where Veruca had just been happily gazing at, I was astounded to see how on earth such a thing could exist, but it didn't stop Veruca from wanting one.

However, due to the embarrassment, I was quite literally thrown into, I decided it was time to go against my old methods of dealing with my daughter's demands.

 _"Veruca, the only thing you're getting today is a bath, and that's final!"_ I told her in a firm tone of voice.

 _"But I want it!"_ Was Veruca's protested response, nevertheless, I was going to stick to my word.

To mark my decision I gave her a stern glare to show her that I wasn't going to change my mind.

Although it felt slightly nerve wracking, I also felt a sense of achievement in what I should have done years ago, which was to be the start of a very long and most likely painful process.

After all most newfound realisations are worth taking into account and learning from.


End file.
